Baking in the BBQ

Posted on August 21, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..and wheat free doesn’t mean carb free

After reading Wheat Belly by William Davis, MD, one quickly realizes that eating gluten and wheat free foods doesn’t guarantee weight loss. There are more and more gluten free products on the market than ever, especially in the snacking and bakery sections of the grocery store. If you were to read the ingredient lists you would discover that many of these products are high in sugars, fats and alternative starches and the calorie count is high for what you’re getting.

I was feeling somewhat liberated when I found gluten free flour at Costco and I was somewhat disappointed when I couldn’t find a gluten free banana bread recipe in Dr. Davis’ book. After using a regular recipe and substituting the gluten free flour for regular flour it started to dawn on me that I don’t normally eat bananas, let alone banana bread, even though I love both. I’ve always known that bananas are high in carbs and the bread goes without saying. It was when I added the 2 cups of sugar, the 1 1/2 cups of butter and 6 cups of flour that I started to question what I was doing.

So why was I baking banana bread when I’m still trying to lose weight? It just so happened that we were going to celebrate my friend D’s birthday on Sunday and she suggested that we bake something special. Besides she had some sour milk that needed to be used and I had some very ripe bananas. I went through my cottage cookbooks and lo and behold I found a recipe that used both those ingredients.

As you know from previous posts I don’t have electricity and I do the bulk of my cooking on the BBQ, including any baking that I might do. Over the years D and I have developed a knack for baking muffins, cakes and breads in the great outdoors. One of the tricks is to use smaller pans so that dough cooks through to the middle in a shorter length of time. The bread in the bundt pan was finished first, or so we thought. If you look closely at the cut slices you can see that the middle is a little too soft.

The two breads in the loaf pan took a little longer but were a better texture. One of the differences with using gluten free flour is that the bread was much denser than a normal banana bread and for some reason tasted much sweeter. If I were to do this again (for my friends who are truly gluten intolerant) I would definitely add less sugar and maybe even experiment with some kind of substitute that isn’t aspartame or saccharin. I’ve heard that applesauce is a good replacement for sugar in some baking recipes.

I had one and a half slices of the bread on D’s birthday and I ate one slice for breakfast the next morning. I’ve always found that if I’m going to eat carbs it’s best in the morning and then avoid them for the rest of the day. Maybe I should clarify that when I say carbs I mean breads, pasta and primarily flour products. I still eat lots of healthy carbs in the way of vegetables, some fruit and dairy products along with lean protein and healthy fats.

I’m going to have to read the Wheat Belly book a little closer and try to figure out how to fit it into my daily diet without increasing my carb intake. Maybe some of you have a gluten free, wheat free recipe, low in carbs, fat and sugar that I could try. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

The following pictures are of D and D’s birthday/anniversary dinner that they kindly invited me to. Afterwards we relaxed around a beautiful bonfire as the sun set over Christian Island.

Delicious lamb, fresh tomatoes, green salad with avocados and Ontario corn on the cob. Yum!

Happy Birthday, D!

Gone for a Week

Posted on August 17, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….I’m heading up to the cottage for one last long stay

It seems like I haven’t spent very much time at the cottage this summer and the fact is I haven’t compared to previous years. So I’m leaving in the next couple of hours for my paradise up North and as many of you know I don’t have electricity. That of course means that I won’t be posting for awhile.

I will however write articles and save them, paint and take photographs. Hopefully I will have a lot to share when I return next Saturday. If I’m really desperate I could go to the store in the village and pay $5.00 to use the WiFi but I think I may be too busy just laying back and resting up before the school doors open for another year.

Here’s what a typical day at the cottage might look like:

wake up at 7:30 or there about
go for a walk or run along the beach with my camera in hand
make coffee and a ‘wheat free’ breakfast
spend 20 minutes tidying up and filling the water barrel
reading the next book for our book club The Head Master’s Wager by Vincent Lam
rake around the cottage
prepare a salad for lunch and enjoy it
visit with my neighbour and enjoy a game of scrabble
experiment with a new recipe that I can prepare on the BBQ (probably from my Wheat Belly Cookbook)
go for a swim
prepare dinner
draw in my journal or set up for printing or painting
do the dishes from the last two meals
read for a couple more hours
go to bed around 10:30

That’s pretty much it. I’m really looking forward to a week of healthy eating, walking, swimming, reading and exploring my creative side. See you in a week (maybe sooner).

Carol

Back from the Cottage

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….3 glorious days with my girls and my husband

Friday of last week I spent four hours waiting to see my doctor. After the last trip to the cottage I came home with a slightly scratchy throat. Over the next three days it got much worse and very sore. I had to keep a bottle of water with me at all times to keep from choking,…..it was that bad.

When I finally saw my doctor he was very apologetic for the long wait and checked out my throat. Apparently it didn’t look that bad but he said that my glands were definitely swollen so he prescribed me with an antibiotic and a special throat rinse that actually numbs the tissue.

When I got home I packed the car for the cottage and picked up my oldest daughter and her partner and headed north. I was worried about leaving so late on a Friday but the traffic wasn’t too bad and we made pretty good time getting to the ferry dock. My husband, our younger daughter and the two dogs had left much earlier in the day and were already well into cottage mode when we arrived.

We had perfect weather all weekend. I avoided the water, except for one day, because of my throat but we all got much needed rest and by Sunday I started to feel a lot better. On Saturday evening, after dark, the four girls headed toward the beach with our blankets and cameras to watch the Perseid meteor showers. The best night is actually tonight but we managed to see some spectacular shooting stars in the first few minutes at the beach. As far a photos go we weren’t very successful capturing the night sky.

We all shared in the preparation of meals and on Sunday night we invited our cottage neighbours over for a pizza fest. A and J really wanted to bake pizza in the BBQ so they bought most of the toppings and I bought the pizza dough from our local Italian bakery.

Doing pizza in the BBQ is a bit tricky but after experimenting with the heat settings and raising the pans off the grill we managed to make 5 delicious pies. One was even made with gluten free dough for two of our neighbours who are gluten intolerant. We also made two huge salads to round out the meal. Of course what would pizza be without a glass or two of good red wine?

All of us were able to spread the weekend over to Monday. My husand, my daughter G and the dogs left on one of the earlier boats and A, J and I stayed a little bit longer. After cleaning up the cottage and packing the car, A and J went for one last walk along the beach. We relaxed for a bit on the deck and tried to get some photos of the hummingbirds.

Like I said we ‘tried’ to get photos of the hummingbirds. This camera is much better than the one I used last year so I think I’ll try it again when I go back up later this week.

The trip back on the ferry treated us to some beautiful cloud formations over the lake. I’m inspired to try painting these beauties.

Canoeing

Posted on July 11, 2013 by Mama Cormier

This is the last of the stories I wrote on the weekend. In hind sight I’m glad I took the time to write then because over the last few days I’ve been very busy getting ready for our trip to Ireland. We leave tonight.

Canoeing to the Northern Most Tip of the Island

….to try our hands at fishing (casting style)

It was hot today but the lake was cool and calm. Perfect for a ‘long’ canoe trip. Well it seemed long for a novice like me. I was placed at the front of the boat and I paddled on my left. D was at the back, in charge of steering and her daughter was in the middle.

We packed the fishing rods, water and kneeling pads into the canoe and I put my trusty little camera into a ziplock back to keep it from getting wet. We all put on our life jackets (we were travelling over very deep water) and tied down the extra paddle, the bailing bucket and all our gear….safety first.

Getting into the canoe was a bit challenging. It was then I realized how tippy this vessel actually is. I started to worry about my camera. If we did tip it would go straight to the bottom of the lake. Once we were all in place the paddling began. There was a slight ripple on the lake on the way to Salt Cove (a name we made up years ago) and D had a bit of trouble keeping the canoe on track. The trip to the point took us over an hour to complete. As we got closer the water became very shallow and we had to look out for rocks sticking out of the water.

We were able to beach the canoe relatively easily and we walked over the stoney shoreline to an area where we thought the fish might bite. We were using casting rods today and artificial bait. I had never used either. The actual fly fishing was very relaxing and I can see why people like it so much. A few times I thought that something was nibbling on my fake worm but I think that most of the time I was getting caught up on the rocks. Both D and her daughter swear they saw fish in the water but all I saw were the reflections off the water made by the sun.

After almost two hours, we called it a day and got back into the canoe. By this time the water was as still as glass and the paddle home took only an hour. Empty handed and exhausted we pulled ashore and were greeted by D’s family. Funny how the fish stories of the ‘one that got away’ start.

No fish for dinner tonight but I was famished. It was almost 9:00 o’clock before I ate. I had a huge kale and cabbage salad with cold chicken. It was no fresh bass, pickerel or lake trout but it did the trick. Maybe we’ll have better luck tomorrow. D wants to go to the lighthouse side tomorrow and cast a few lines there. Hmmmm, isn’t that where the bears were last seen?

Going Fishing

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Mama Cormier

Written Saturday, July 6, 2013

…..I can’t remember the last time I did this

Today I’m getting into a canoe and paddling over to and around Salt Cove to go fishing. I think the last time I did this I was a child. I remember liking the experience, even putting the worms on the hook. Today I think we’re fly fishing, so we’re not using live bait.

D keeps saying we’re going to catch our dinner. I know there are fish in this lake but because it’s so big the only fish that I’ve ever seen caught were with a net. I’ve bought some great lake trout from the local fishermen. Until this week I’d never seen fish caught with a fishing pole. Both D and her daughter went out earlier in the week and came back with a 14 inch bass, well that’s what we think it was.

The only other time that I’ve ‘caught’ a fish in Georgian Bay happened several years ago. I didn’t use a net or a pole. In fact I just picked it up off the beach. D and I were walking along the shore when we spotted this beautiful fish. It was dead but the eyes were still clear, there was no odour and there were no marks on the fish itself. We just happened to have a plastic bag with us so I picked it up and took it to my neighbour to see what he thought of our find.

W was amazed at the size of this lake trout. We took it back to his cottage and he brought out his scales. It weighed in at 8 pounds. He opened it for us and gutted and cleaned it and cut it into numerous steaks. The flesh inside was clean and we couldn’t see anything wrong with it. We debated why it ended up on the beach and the best scenario that we could come up with was that it had been trapped in one of the fishermen’s nets, died in the trap trying to escape and then was washed ashore with the waves.

That night we shared our ‘catch’ with W and his family and we invited cottage friends over for a feast. My favourite saying of the day came from our friend C from down the beach when she told all her neighbours that she was going for a dinner of ‘road kill’. That lovely fish fed over 10 people and we all lived to tell the tale.

How Not to Treat Poison Ivy

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..I’ve only had it 3 times in my life

In the 25 years that I’ve been coming up to the cottage I’ve become very familiar with what poison ivy looks, where it is, how to avoid it and how to treat it. I’ve only had 2 very minor rashes in all these years and I mean minor, 4 or 5 tiny blisters all in a row. In the past I’ve always left it alone, washed it with Sunlight soap and if the rash became too itchy I would apply calamine lotion.

My son and D’s son, on the other hand always managed to get some serious bouts of poison ivy when they were young boys. Somehow they managed to get it on their hands and where ever they touched themselves that’s where the rash would show up. They had poison ivy on their faces, legs and groin area.

The worst case of poison ivy, oak or sumac (we’re not sure which one she came in contact with) that I’ve ever seen happened to my cottage neighbour and friend, D. After a hike over on Hope Is. she broke out in a rash all over her body but the worst part of it was on her face. She looked like a boxer at the end of a fight. Her face puffed out and her eyes were swollen shut. Her case was so serious that it required a trip to the hospital where they prescribed a round of steroids to reduce the swelling and ease the pain.

One of the side effects of steroids is that it makes you quite aggressive and D found she had an over inflated sense of her actual strength. We had a delivery of building materials delivered to the cottage at the time and she was carrying twice as much drywall and in record speed than the rest of us. When she started to complain that her heart was racing we made her stop. This happened over 20 years ago and we still talk about it today.

This brings me to my third bout of poison ivy that I picked up two weeks ago at another friends cottage. I saw that the roadside was covered in the shiny three leafed plant and I thought I had stayed clear of it when we went for our walk; however, two days later (it takes a couple of days before the rash appears) I noticed a small patch on my right ankle. It was quite itchy and I tried not to touch it. I remembered a remedy that my friend L swears works every time so I thought I would give it a try.

The remedy involves rubbing salt into the blisters to break them open and then washing away the fluid that would normally cause the rash to spread. I recently received a wonderful salt scrub that I thought would do the job. It felt great when the blisters broke and they seemed to heal right away. The problem was that 2 days later another rash appeared somewhere else on my leg. I repeated the procedure and 2 days later another area broke out.

Now the thing with the scrub that I was using was that the salt was packed in an oil and after I rubbed it all over my legs it left the skin feeling soft and hydrated. What I didn’t realize at the time was that the oil was spreading the fluid in the blisters to other parts of my leg and because oil and water don’t mix the fluid wasn’t being washed away. Too bad it took me three treatments to realize what I was doing to myself. I’ve decided to leave this new batch of poison ivy to dry out on its own without any help from me.

Live and learn!

Living Without Electricity

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….little did I know that this was going to happen here in the city, yesterday

When I wrote the following story there was no warning of the storm to come. We set record rainfall levels here in Toronto. In two hours 90 mm of rain fell and continued to fall until 124 mm fell in total. We haven’t had this much rain since Hurricane Hazel in 1954. Roads, highways and underpasses were flooded and closed. Over 300 000 homes were without power in Toronto and at one point 80% of Mississauga was in the dark. We had no power for 10 hours. Luckily our basement stayed dry but thousands of basements flooded.

The biggest story yesterday was how the GO train ended up in a flood zone and started to fill up. Passengers were stranded on the train for over six hours and had to be rescued by the Marine Unit.

GO train flooded

People inside the train

The irony is that if I had stayed up at the cottage for one more day I would have missed all of this. Here is the story I wrote on the weekend:

Living Without Electricity

….power failure? what power failure?

The one time I’m happy about not having electricity at the cottage is when we have a power failure. Up here a power failure can last for days. I’m sitting here in semi-darkness with only a few candles burning and a couple of oil lamps aglow. I charged my laptop before I left the city on Friday morning and now, Sunday evening, after writing 4 stories and up loading all my photos I still have 30% left on the battery.

It’s not that we can’t get electricity up here, we can. When we first started building in 1989 there was no electricity on this side of the island. People had been up here for 20 years and more and got along just fine without it. In the mid 90’s Ontario hydro installed power lines up to Big Sand Bay. Many cottagers didn’t want it at first but slowly, one by one, cottages started to be powered with electricity. We are one of the few last hold outs.

People often wonder how we manage without power. Well my fridge runs on propane, I use my BBQ as my main source for cooking and our water pump is generated with gas. As I said earlier, I light the place with oil lamps and candles, and battery operated lanterns and in recent years I’ve started purchasing lights that are solar powered. Don’t get me wrong, there are days that I wish I had electricity, like on rainy days when I have to cook outside. Of course that could also be remedied with a propane stove. Lugging propane tanks back and forth, off and on the island can also be a pain but it’s better than the alternative (cooling with ice and cooking over campfires).

At least when there is a power failure I’m not leaving because I can’t keep my food cold, my water pump doesn’t work and heaven forbid I can’t watch TV or play video games. I’m happy with my battery operated radio and my favourite station, CBC. I also read a lot, walk, swim, play board games with my neighbours, and occasionally paint. The one convenience that I do have and don’t need to have electricity for is my land line phone. Cell reception up here is very dicey. We can receive messages but we can’t always reply. Literally, directly north of us lies hundreds of kilometres of open water. I don’t think we’ll be seeing a cell tower in the middle of Georgian Bay any time soon.

*****************************************************************************************************

Luckily our fridge kept our food cold and nothing in the freezer defrosted. I did put a few things in my cooler bag with ice packs to take some stress off the fridge. I lit candles, used flashlights and battery powered lanterns and I was able to keep in touch with family and friends through texting. My little transistor radio and Twitter kept us up to date with the news.

My husband and I had a huge salad for dinner and we kept ourselves entertained with a marathon game of scrabble. I won. Teeheehee!

Sitting by the Dock of the Bay

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…...waiting for the ferry at Cedar Point

As I drove down Cedar Point Road I had 10 minutes to spare before the ferry departs; however, today there was no ferry waiting to take on cars or cruising through the waters towards the dock. Today the ferry is at least 30 minutes behind schedule.

On the way here I debated about stopping to get paraffin oil for my lamps at the local hardware store in Lafontaine. I knew that stopping was risky and it could mean missing the boat. It wouldn’t have been a problem today. Hopefully I have enough oil left in my lamps for the next few nights, otherwise I will be totally dependent on candles or my one solar powered lamp. Of course the other option is going to bed early. This might be a good opportunity for me to catch up on my sleep.

I decided to take my laptop with me to the island so that I could do some writing while I’m up here. I made sure it was fully charged and I’ll have to be extra careful to shut it down when I’m not using it. It’ll be interesting to see how much I can do on one charge.

I’ve had mixed messages from followers as to whether I should take the laptop or the iPad with me to Ireland. I’m still undecided. I’m sure my husband would rather that I didn’t take either. I’ll have to limit my time blogging, maybe setting aside 30 minute blocks of time first thing in the morning or last thing at night. I must admit that I’ve become a bit addicted to writing this blog, following other blogs and checking out new sites. I think I’ll have to forgo reading everyone else’s blogs until I return home.

Well, the ferry finally arrived. We all ‘backed’ onto the boat (my least favourite way to board the boat) and we finally departed, 36 minutes behind schedule.

I’m Back!

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…. it’s Monday and I spent 3 glorious days at the cottage

I did something this weekend that I’ve never done before. I brought my laptop to the cottage. I charged it fully before I left and thought I might try writing stories while I was up there. To my surprise I was able to write 5 articles and uploaded photos and still had some ‘juice’ left at the end of the weekend.

I’m going to start posting the stories over the next 4 days as I get ready for our trip to Ireland. I also heard that my 86 year old dad had a bad fall on the weekend and I will probably take an afternoon to drive out to Oshawa to see for myself that he’s okay. When I talked to him today he said he was sore, bruised and scraped and may have a concussion. Did he go to the hospital after falling 10 feet, heard first off a cliff? No, of course not. He did, however, go to the doctor today and was told he was very lucky. No kidding! He did tell me that he learned a lesson. The next time the dog wants to go down the cliff, he’s going to let the dog go and he’ll take the stairs.

Walking, Waves, Water Foul and Wildflowers

Posted on July 2, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..I got up early enough to join my husband and Frances for our daily 5k walk

As you can see I’m not at the cottage. I decided to go see my doctor yesterday (yes, he was working on Canada Day) and get the results from my blood work. I’m happy to report that all the major things were in the good range (cholesterol, sugar levels, etc.). So why am I not on my way to cottage today, you may ask?

Last night my friend, D, called my from Christian Island and told me that she and her husband were coming home today and going back next weekend. I decided that there was no big hurry to get up to the cottage, seeing that I would be mostly alone, so instead I’m going into school today to clean up my library/art office. I was going to go in next week but I think I’m going to be too busy getting ready for our trip to Ireland.

After a quick cup of coffee, the three of us headed out on our walk. I almost always take my camera with me and today was no exception. I love the macro function on the camera and it came in handy today as I got down nice and close to the tiny wildflowers that we pass on our walk. Part of my walk turned in a run today because every time I stopped to take a picture I had to run to catch up to K and Frances.

The morning started out a bit overcast and there was a slight wind. If you saw the waves on the lake you might have thought there were gail force winds but not so. A few metres inland the pond was as still as ice.

This last shot is my favourite. As I zoomed into the these mini thistles I didn’t notice the blur of activity that was taking place on the stems of these plants.